|
But the highlight of the game was Moore's 83rd minute goal. A homegrown player he showed mature confidence when he slipped the ball around Richard Rufus and raced on to push his shot past Dean Kiely.
Villa, who scored two goals for the first time this season, more than deserved their belated success.
Villa, with five changes from the side beaten in their previous game at Bolton, had to battle hard for their win.
Included for his debut was Ronny Johnsen. The former Manchester United player took up a midfield role on his 100th league in English football and made a big contribution to Villa's success.
Mark Kinsella, playing his against his old club, was often inspirational in setting up several promising Villa attacks.
|
Charlton, who had won their previous two away games at Bolton and West Ham, relied on the occasional breakaway attack to testVilla as indicated by a low, swerving 30 yard shot from Claus Jensen which was saved by Peter Enckelman.
Jensen later combined with Mathias Svensson and Jason Euell to test Peter Enckelman with another powerful drive.
Villa responded with a glancing header from Steve Staunton following a free-kick by Gareth Barry which was brilliantly' saved by Kiely.
The breakthrough came in the 70th minute when De La Cruz wriggled past Chris Powell and Steve Brown to score from close range.
Moore, an 18-year-old England youth international, took advantage of Charlton's slow moving defence to add the second goal to demonstrate some rich potential